Kameron Starr performs on drums with the Lancaster High School Percussion Ensemble Friday afternoon at the Gazebo during the Lancaster Festival. / Eagle-Gazette file photo

Written by

Rick Rouan

The Eagle-Gazette Staff

LANCASTER -- As a fifth-grader, Kameron Starr told his parents during the Lancaster High School percussion ensemble performance at the Lancaster Festival that he wanted to play the drums.

On July 22, he was doing just that. In the Lancaster High School percussion ensemble. At the Lancaster Festival.

"I just like being able to let loose," said Starr, a senior.

Let loose, he did. During the ensemble's rendition of "YYZ" by Rush, Starr performed the solo of one of his drumming idols, Neil Peart. Afterward, several audience members congratulated the 17-year-old on, among other things, "having hands that can move that fast."

"As much as I practice, there's no way I could imitate him," he said. "It's just an adrenaline rush after it."

After the performance, which was played in 92-degree heat, Starr and his fellow ensemble members were drenched in sweat from playing tunes that ranged from big band classic "Sing, Sing, Sing" to "Memor,y" from the musical "Cats."

As the ensemble kicked off the festival's bandstand series with a jazz tune, audience members clamored for a space to set their lawn and camp chairs in the shade on the gazebo square.

The temperature during the concert, which started at noon, was as hot as Lancaster resident Tom Allen can remember during the festival.

"I hope it doesn't hurt attendance," he said.

To prepare for the heat, the percussion ensemble practiced this week outside of Lancaster High School, said Bruce Gerken, director of percussion studies.

"It's pretty tough to play in the heat, but they're conditioned," he said, adding that difference between indoor and outdoor acoustics also make it necessary to practice outside.

Gerken said that the concert was a way for the percussion ensemble to give back to the community that has supported it through attendance at local events and sending it other cities, such as New Orleans.

"I think it's really important to pay the community back for its support," he said. "And it's always great to go play at home."

Starr said that the family atmosphere of the festival makes it special to play.

Moments after he finished playing his final solo of the summer, Starr was approached by 5-year-old Brayden Sargent, who wanted to tell the drummer that he too wanted to play the drums.

Sargent, who danced near the ensemble for much of the hourlong performance, fist-bumped Starr and congratulated him on his solo.

The key to playing the solo, which left Starr breathless, is concentration, he said.

"It's just trying to stay as focused outside as you are inside," he said.